St. Lawrence Board of Trustees Elects Five New Members
The St. Lawrence University Board of Trustees is pleased to welcome three new members for six-year terms: Taylor Castator ’15, Grant H. Cornwell ’79, and Christopher P. Yoshida ’00. The board is also delighted to welcome young alumni Oscar Acevedo ’19 and Sarah Evarts ’17 as McCurdy-Sprague trustees, with a term of four years. Our new members begin their service on June 1.
Oscar Acevedo ’19
Oscar Acevedo ’19 is a Vice President and Client Executive in the Insurance and Investment Management Segment within Global Client Management at BNY. Prior to this role, Acevedo spent more than two years as part of BNY Asset Servicing & Digital’s controls and governance team.
He has been active as a young Laurentian, serving as a 5th Reunion Committee Chair, a panelist for SLU Connect LIVE Finance, and a roundtable participant at SLU Connect NYC. He makes a difference in his local community as well, having served as a mentor at iMentor, guiding and supporting high school students through the college process, and as a judge in the 2023 Aspen Challenge (Brooklyn) high school competition.
Acevedo graduated from St. Lawrence in 2019 with a bachelor’s degree in economics and business in the liberal arts. As a student, he was a Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP) Scholar and studied abroad in London. He served as a Student Delegate to the Alumni Executive Council, worked as a Community Assistant, played on the baseball team, and participated in SLU Connect programs in Albany and Boston.
Originally from the Dominican Republic, he currently resides in New York City.
Taylor Castator ’15
Taylor Castator ’15 is Vice President of Finance and Strategy at Enthought, a global leader in scientific computing, enterprise scientific software development, and digital transformation for science. Prior to joining Enthought in 2019, she worked as the Director of Finance and Operations at Curley Company in Washington, D.C. She has a passion for finding unique business strategies and solutions to help organizations achieve their objectives during periods of growth and change.
Castator has served St. Lawrence as a young alumni committee member and event organizer. She has also been featured as a career panelist on several occasions and played a key role in the SLU Connect D.C. Program during its formative years.
Castator graduated summa cum laude from St. Lawrence in 2015 with a bachelor’s degree in economics and business in the liberal arts. She was incredibly engaged as an undergraduate, serving as an orientation leader, Admissions Ambassador, Admissions Summer Intern and a member of the Academic Honor Council. Castator also played key leadership roles in student government as President of both the Thelomathesian Society and the Senior Class, delivering Commencement remarks in 2015.
She resides in Austin, Texas.
Grant H. Cornwell ’79
Grant H. Cornwell ’79 is retiring as Rollins College’s 15th president at the end of this academic year. Since his arrival in 2015, Cornwell has grown Rollins’ reputation as a distinguished liberal arts college. Under his leadership as the George D. and Harriet W. Cornell Chair of Distinguished Presidential Leadership, applications, enrollment, and the diversity of the student body have been the highest in the College’s history. He has shepherded an ambitious fundraising campaign raising over $290 million.
Prior to his time at Rollins, Cornwell served as president of The College of Wooster for eight years. He began his career in higher education at St. Lawrence as a member of the philosophy department. He would go on to chair the department, and later serve as associate dean of the First-Year Program, and vice president and dean of Academic Affairs.
Cornwell is nationally recognized for his work in defining liberal learning in a global environment. A past member of the board of directors of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU) and former chair of the Association of American Colleges and Universities’ (AAC&U) Presidents’ Trust, he has added his experience and valuable perspective to numerous other higher education organizations. Most recently, he has joined the national board of advisors of Citizens & Scholars, an organization devoted to advancing high education as a public good and preparing students for citizenship in a diverse democracy. Cornwell is also the co-editor of two books and has authored more than two dozen scholarly articles and chapters.
A St. Lawrence graduate from the class of 1979, he earned his bachelor’s degree in philosophy and biology before master’s and doctoral degrees in philosophy from the University of Chicago. He was awarded honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degrees from The College of Wooster, St. Lawrence University, and Rollins College in 2017, 2020, and 2025 respectively.
Cornwell and his wife, Peg Cornwell ’79, M’94, currently reside in Winter Park, Fla.
Sarah Evarts ’17
Sarah Evarts ’17 is a Human Resources Business Partner at Axsome Therapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company developing new therapies for central nervous system conditions that have limited treatment options. Prior to joining Axsome Therapeutics, she worked at PURE Insurance, first as a Member Advocate and then in progressive leadership positions within the human resources department.
Evarts has served her alma mater as a young alumni committee member, admissions volunteer and 5th Reunion Committee Chair. She has also served the Center for Career Excellence as a Saints Accelerate participant, LINC mentor, and internship sponsor.
Evarts graduated from St. Lawrence in 2017 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and business in the liberal arts, with a minor in political science. While an undergraduate, she studied abroad in Denmark, was a member of Kappa Delta Sigma sorority, SLU Advocates, the Admissions Ambassador program, and the Crew team. She also was a member of the Thelomathesian Society where she served as Vice President of University Relations, and Co-President of the Senior Class Council.
Evarts currently resides in New York City.
Christopher “Yosh” P. Yoshida ’00
Christopher “Yosh” P. Yoshida ’00 is Managing Partner of PineTree Partners, a boutique global advisory and private investment vehicle. Prior to founding PineTree Partners, he served as the President and Chief Financial Officer of Northern Data, Europe’s leading HPC infrastructure provider, and was previously a Senior Advisor to Global Credit and the Head of Carlyle Capital Solutions Europe at The Carlyle Group based out of London. In total, Yoshida has more than 25 years of global market, asset management and entrepreneurial experience, including leadership and management positions at Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs.
As an alumnus, he has served his alma mater as a fundraising, career, and event volunteer. He was an active member of the Laurentian Major & Planned Gifts Committee during St. Lawrence’s last campaign and is a current member of the Hockey Alumni Association Executive Board.
He graduated from St. Lawrence in 2000 with a bachelor’s degree in economics. While attending St. Lawrence, Yoshida served as President of the Thelomathesian Society, manager of the men’s hockey team, and was a brother of Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity. He comes from a proud Laurentian family: his parents, Dave Yoshida and Sue Wight, are both members of the Class of 1973, and his brother, Ryan Duff, graduated in 2010.
Yoshida and his wife, Sydney, reside in London with their two daughters.
